This is an easy choice since it was after this match that the concept of the Ashes was born. It was a one-off Test, the ninth between the two countries, and boiled down to a duel between the legendary WG Grace and Australia’s Frederick Spofforth, a 6ft 3in fast bowler known as ‘the Demon’, a sort of 19th-century Glenn McGrath with Dennis Lillee’s moustache.

On a difficult pitch, England bowled Australia out for 63 and then engineered a crucial lead of 38 despite Spofforth bowling Grace for only four. Australia scrambled 122 in their second innings but the turning point was Grace provocatively running out Sammy Jones as he stepped out of his crease to prod a divot.

Tempers flared and Spofforth was fuming. As the teams emerged for England’s pursuit of 85 to win he said to Grace: “This will lose you the match.” England reached 53 for three when Grace, untroubled on 32, miscued Harry Boyle to mid-off. Spofforth, bowling 28 four-ball overs unchanged – without a drink or toilet break – then reduced England to 70 for seven. The tension was so great one spectator gnawed through his umbrella handle. It soon became 75 for nine. Ten to win.

The last man was Yorkshire left-arm spinner Ted Peate, a renowned rabbit. He edged a two to tumultuous cheering, and was then bowled swishing. England had lost by seven runs and Spofforth had taken seven for 44 to give him 14 for 90 in the match,­ one of the finest bowling performances in the history of the game. Grace was unrepentant. “I left six men to get 30-odd runs and they couldn’t do it,” he said.

It was Australia’s first Test victory in England and, with the legitimacy of cremation being a popular topic of debate at the time, it inspired the mock ‘RIP English cricket’ obituary in the Sporting Times, which finished “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”

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2) Old Trafford 1902 ­ Australia won by three runs

In the midst of cricket’s Golden Age, the series of 1902 was the first great five-Test Ashes contest, although the first two were virtual washouts.

Australia went one-up in the third, the only Test played at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, and there was controversy before the fourth, at Old Trafford, when the dictatorial chairman of selectors Lord Hawke, from Yorkshire, and the captain Archie MacLaren, a Lancastrian, fell out over selection. On the morning of the match a piqued MacLaren left out England’s best all-rounder, George Hirst, and selected Sussex’s Fred Tate, who had never played for England. It has become known as Tate’s match, though for all the wrong reasons.

Australia chose to bat first on a wet pitch conscious that the England bowlers would not be able to stand up. MacLaren’s instruction was to “keep the dangerous Victor Trumper quiet until lunch” when the pitch had dried out. As the Australian score at lunch was 173 for one with the cavalier Trumper 102 not out, the plan failed miserably.

Australia were eventually all out for 299, and the redoubtable FS Jackson’s 128 got England to within 37 of their score. A deluge saturated the pitch, then Australia collapsed to 10 for three. Darling counter-attacked, but offered a crucial chance to deep-square-leg. The debutant Tate dropped it. Darling made a vital 37 in Australia’s 86 all out leaving England 124 to win and square the series.

It was eight to win when Tate, the last man, walked in. He inside-edged a four but was then clean bowled two balls later. Australia had won by the narrowest of margins and retained the Ashes. Tate never played for England again, but proclaimed that his seven-year-old son Maurice would one day avenge this defeat, and in the 1920s he did.

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3) The Oval 1926 - England won by 289 runs

This match ended 14 years of Australian dominance including the famous 5-0 whitewash of 1921-22. England had at least stopped the rot as the first four Tests of the 1926 series were drawn. The ICC bowed to popular demand and allowed the fifth at the Oval to be played to a finish (all Tests in England had previously been three-day affairs).

The flamboyant Percy Chapman, of Kent, was installed as England captain and the Yorkshire slow-left armer Wilfred Rhodes was recalled at the age of 48. Australia sneaked a first-innings lead of 22, and set their bowlers to work on a treacherous pitch. They were defied by the brilliance of Jack Hobbs and the stoicism of Herbert Sutcliffe, England’s greatest ever opening partnership. Hobbs made a majestic 100 in 3hrs 40 mins on a minefield, and the pair put on 172 for the first wicket. Sutcliffe, the only Englishmen to finish with a Test average of more than 60, was eventually out for a gritty 161.

The target of 415 was too much for Australia who capitulated to Rhodes (four for 44) and a young Harold Larwood (three for 34) for 125. England had regained the Ashes and an ecstatic crowd invaded the pitch. Larwood wept in the dressing room and said “This is the greatest day of my life.” “There will be more of those,” Hobbs said, pressing a beer into his hand, after which the great batsman, a modest man, slipped off home for supper with his wife.

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4) Adelaide Oval 1932-33 ­ England won by 338 runs.

This was the pivotal game in the infamous Bodyline series. Donald Bradman was remorseless in England in 1930 with 974 runs in the series, a record that still stands, but England, through manager Pelham Warner and captain Douglas Jardine, hatched a plan to cut him down. It involved ‘Leg Theory’ - bowling fast and at the body with lots of close fielders on the legside. Harold Larwood was willing to try the idea, as was his opening partner Bill Voce.

Bradman missed the first Test through illness, with England winning in his absence, and on his return in Melbourne he was bowled first ball. He recovered his composure to make a match-winning hundred in the second innings to leave the series tied at 1-1. Jardine was intensely disliked in Australia and the mood in Adelaide was already combustible before Larwood bowled a short ball to the Australian captain Bill Woodfull which slammed into his chest, drawing blood. The crowd roared its disapproval, and Jardine aggravated the situation by then adopting a leg-theory field and ordering more short balls, one of which knocked the bat out of Woodfull’s hand. Bradman then subsided tamely to Larwood, prodding to short-leg for eight.

Australia recovered to 109 for four at the close, at which point Warner disingenuously knocked on the Australians’ door to ask if everything was alright and was rebuffed with Woodfull’s famous line: “There are two teams out there. One is playing cricket, the other is not.”

The following morning the Australian keeper Bert Oldfield hooked his way to 41 before top-edging a ball from Larwood into his head. It almost incited a riot, although Oldfield absolved the bowler from blame as he was helped off.

England won the match comfortably, and ultimately the series, though the Australians’ vehement complaints about England’s tactics almost caused the contest to be abandoned. Larwood was made a scapegoat by the hypocritical English authorities and never played Test cricket again.

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5 Headingley 1948 - Australia won by 7 wickets.

Bradman’s team of 1948 was labelled ‘The Invincibles’ since they went through the entire tour of England - featuring more than 30 games - unbeaten, winning more than half by an innings.

They were already 2-0 up in the series when they arrived at Headingley for the fourth Test, where Bradman himself had previously recorded two triple centuries. England, through the batting of Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook and Bill Edrich, made a good fight of it, and, after extending England’s second innings a few minutes into the fifth day, Norman Yardley set Australia 404 to win.

With Australia 57 for one, Bradman walked to the wicket at 1pm to a standing ovation. Five hours later he was receiving another as he walked off on 173 not out to see Australia to an extraordinary victory aided by Arthur Morris’s superb 182. It was the highest run-chase in Test history, a record that stood for another 28 years.

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6) The Oval 1953 ­ England won by 8 wickets.

After four draws, England, captained at last by a professional in Len Hutton, sealed a famous victory at the Oval to regain the Ashes for the first time in almost 20 years.

England boasted a top six as good as they have ever fielded - Hutton, Bill Edrich, Peter May, Denis Compton, Tom Graveney and Trevor Bailey - and Australia had their great opening pair of fast bowlers, Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller. But on a dry Oval pitch, Australia erroneously left out leg spinner Richie Benaud, while England picked their Surrey spin twins Jim Laker and Tony Lock, despite suspicions about Lock’s bowling action.

They applied the critical incision after lunch on the third day, sharing nine wickets as Australia were bowled out for 162, leaving England 132 to win. England got there after lunch on the fourth day, Compton regally dispatching the ball to the boundary for the winning runs after which he was engulfed by ecstatic supporters.

Fred Trueman, who had been summoned from RAF duty to play in the match, received a telegram at the end that said simply: ‘Notice Test match finished. Expected back 23.59 hours.’

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7) Brisbane 1974-75 – Australia won by 166 runs

No Ashes history can be complete without due reference to Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, the most fearsome pair of fast bowlers any helmetless batsmen ever had to face. Even when you watch the 1974-75 series on YouTube now, you do so from behind the sofa.

In the first Test at Brisbane they caught England totally unawares. Lillee was coming back from serious injury while Thomson had bowled at half rat power in a pre-Test game and had played only one previous Test.

They hit England like a thunderbolt. Balls were fizzing past their noses from both ends and flying off the shoulder of the bat. Lillee was menacing enough off his long, marauding run, but Thomson was genuinely frightening.

Gliding smoothly to the wicket, he did an odd chasse at the crease before his body jack-knifed backwards. Then, in a whiplash of the arm, the ball was catapulted up the other end at ferocious speed.

At Brisbane Tony Greig defied them with great bravado, provocatively celebrating boundaries the way umpires signal them on his way to 110. It was an audacious innings but it could not stop Lillee and Thomson running away with the match and ultimately the series, in which they shared 58 wickets and inflicted widespread bodily harm.

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8) Headingley 1981 ­ England won by 18 runs

A match regarded as one of the most extraordinary turnarounds in the history of sport. On a tricky pitch England, one down in the series and with a 39-year old Mike Brearley recalled as captain to replace the struggling Ian Botham, had been made to follow on 227 behind. They had declined to 135 for seven when England’s No 9 Graham Dilley joined Botham.

With expectations deflated and the pressure off, the pair produced an extraordinary stand. Dilley started it with some uncomplicated thumps through the covers and Botham was soon having a dip himself, middling some and edging others and also striking one mighty six “into the confectionary stall and out again”, as Benaud famously put it.

They gave England a slender lead of 25, swelled by outlandish strokes from Botham. He was then supported by the apprehensive but crisp-striking Chris Old, before Bob Willis managed to hang on to allow Botham to filch 37 for the last wicket, leaving Australia 130 to win.

They began positively, reaching 56 for one, at which point Brearley decided that Willis, who had almost not been selected for the match, should switch ends. Tearing down the hill like a man possessed, Willis decimated the Australians, and when he flattened Ray Bright’s middle stump he had taken eight for 43 to make England only the second side in history to win a Test after following on. Daylight robbery.

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9) Edgbaston 2005 ­ England won by two runs

A titanic match which defined a Test series of unremitting drama and tension. After the ageing kings (Australia) had triumphed over the young pretenders in the first Test at Lord’s, their chief warlord Glenn McGrath trod on a ball while playing rugby in the warm-up and was ruled out - something which made Ricky Ponting’s decision to field first all the more bizarre.

After a timid batting performance at Lord’s, England came out with all guns blazing, scoring 407 all out in a day. Andrew Flintoff struck five sixes and then finished off Australia’s erratic reply with two wickets in two balls.

The world’s greatest wicket-thief Shane Warne retorted with the ball of the (new) century to bowl Andrew Strauss behind his legs as he shouldered arms and hoodwinked five other batsmen to give Australia a victory target of 282.

Flintoff, inspired by striking four more sixes, produced one of the most stirring first overs in history to dislodge first Justin Langer and then Ponting, and Australia stumbled to the end of the day requiring 107 with just two wickets left. One of those was Warne, who gave Australia hope with a crafty innings of 42. Then, incredibly, the last pair of Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz added 59 to get Australia within one hit of victory.

English cricket’s obituary writers were poised and sports fans were faced with an endless diet of Rooney, Mourinho and kiss’n tells when Kasprowicz gloved Steve Harmison to give England a death-defying victory.

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9) Edgbaston 2005 - England won by two runs

A titanic match which defined a Test series of unremitting drama and tension.

After the ageing kings (Australia) had triumphed over the young pretenders in the first Test at Lord’s, their chief warlord Glenn McGrath trod on a ball while playing rugby in the warm-up and was ruled out – something which made Ricky Ponting’s decision to field first all the more bizarre.

After a timid batting performance at Lord’s, England came out with all guns blazing, scoring 407 all out in a day. Andrew Flintoff struck five sixes in his 68 and then finished off Australia’s erratic reply of 308 with two wickets in two balls.

The world’s greatest wicket-thief Shane Warne retorted with the ball of the (new) century to bowl Andrew Strauss behind his legs as he shouldered arms. It was his 700th Test wicket. He also hoodwinked five other batsmen to give Australia a victory target of 282.

Flintoff, inspired by striking four more sixes, produced one of the most stirring first overs in history to dislodge first Justin Langer and then Ponting, and Australia stumbled to the end of the day requiring 107 with just two wickets left.

One of those was Warne, who gave Australia hope with a crafty innings of 42. Then, incredibly, the last pair of Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz added 59 to get Australia within one hit of victory.

English cricket’s obituary writers were poised and sports fans were faced with an endless diet of Rooney, Mourinho and kiss’n tells when Kasprowicz gloved Steve Harmison to give England a death-defying victory.

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10) Adelaide Oval 2006-07 - Australia won by six wickets

This match was chosen after a conversation with Shane Warne, who argued that you “couldn’t have a book of the 10 best Ashes Tests without including Adelaide ‘06 - it was one of the greatest victories of all time!”

He has a point. After all, England declared their first innings on 551 for six and lost the match comfortably. England’s first innings was built around a dogged double-century from Paul Collingwood and a more expansive hundred from Kevin Pietersen.

Australia drew to within 38 late on the fourth afternoon with hundreds from Ponting and Michael Clarke, but England, 59 for one going into the last day, looked comfortably placed to draw the game. Warne’s mesmeric spell on the final morning induced a sort of paralysis, during which he also bowled Pietersen round his legs for two.

The leg-spinner’s own brilliance and self-belief infused the rest of the Australians with the conviction that they could win, and, having skittled England for 129, they did so in a blaze of shots. It tore the heart out of England, who promptly succumbed to only the second 5-0 whitewash in Ashes history.

Cricket’s Greatest Rivalry: A History of the Ashes in Ten Matches, by Simon Hughes is published by Cassell, price £18.99